Hello Crstine. I have not been on this forum for quite a while. I decided to look in today and I found your post. I am surprised that no one has replied to you.

Our histories have some similarity. I used to run a lot in high school, not so much during college. It ceased to be fun when I was in the Army. Whenever I thought about it later, I always told myself that the pavement would hurt my knees.

30 years passed by, and at age 56 I got inspired by some "frumpy people" in a 10k. I promised my brother (he had run that race for a bunch of years) that I would come back the next year and run it with him. And I did.

I drive an hour to work. My back is too stiff and sore to jump out of bed and hit the road, before heading off to work. So, I do my running in the evenings, before I get home. And that's after driving an hour to get back to my town. Whenever I go home first, it usually becomes VERY difficult to walk out the door again. By the time I finish my run, finish driving home, shower, the clock is pushing towards 8:00, and it could be later. Anyway, I relax with dinner while watching the news or something mindless. That was a good day.

For you, I say just get started. Start slow, go slow, go short. Your body has "learn" that things are going to be different. Do not be ambitious or anxious about making a lot of progress. Do not run every day, or even every other day. Give your body time to recover; that's when the adaptations take place. I ran every third day when I started up.

You do need core strengthening. Weights can help, but again...start slow. Do whatever exercises feel right, anything helps. Just don't do too much starting out.

Good luck Cristine. Stay well. I'll check back to see how you are doing. How's that?

Forrest, what great advice! It's a little discouraging when your body isn't able to do the things, or recover like it used. But, it's good to know I'm not alone. Giving our bodies time to recover just makes so much sense. I'll try not to shame my 40 year old body.

Cristine, your words echo my everyday thoughts. I'll exercise when I get home, but then there's always something that comes up, and then too tired in the am.

This morning, I actually woke up at 445 to get on the elliptical, but was just too exhausted. I did, however, manage 20 minutes of easy yoga. Baby steps...

I signed up for a 10k in November, hoping that will give me more than enough time to train. I will at least try to get 30 minutes on the elliptical when I get home today.

I'm repeating this all over the forum - but I am so glad I found all of you!!! I was a serious athlete in my youth, and have battled the gym all my subsequent life, am now doing Couch to 5 K and am at least 40 pounds overweight. I am trying not to let my head tell me "well half a workout is better than no workout" and things like that. The number of crazy thoughts that can enter my brain in 1/2 hour!!! Holy moly!

I am just so proud of all of you, and Forest Duck what a nice response to the original post.

Everything I have ever done that is truly challenging I have done with community support. I quit drinking 16 1/2 years ago and quit smoking 6 1/2 years ago, both with support. How I thought I could teach myself not only to run but to WANT TO RUN without community support amazes me! Idiot!

Hi! im starting to run again after a year off (hurt and mostly LAME excuses). The first time I EVER decided to start running was out of the goal to do a half marathon and I did it with gym time, convinient running location and all the stars aligning. I felt pretty lucky and i finsihed three hlaf marathons and then i got hurt, moved, and spent the worst and coldest winter of my life in Boston. I, like many other marathon dreamers was hoping to get to the finish line of the Boston Marathon some day and was goig to use it as my starting point to getting back to running. Sadly the events that transpired are now my inspiration to run... But since having the desire but not the form or the physical stamina to start running again, I realized looking back to the time when I did run, that the TWO most important aspects for getting started on running were the following:

1. commitment to doing 20 minutes a day of 'running'- as in no matter what, make it a priority. Make it a MUST do activity in a positive light of course. A daily choice! It's a daily success that way when you DO make it out and go for a 'run'. I say run because you can walk, skip, jog, or run but all in all it's a part of your goal to run!!

2. I needed to build up my confidence that i COULD go for three miles without stopping. It seems to me that once you hit three miles steady you are a runner. To accomplish this in a sure way that wouldnt cause discouragement or seem overwhelming I used these podcasts http://runningintoshape.com/5k-training-downloads/ The music is a little off and can not be to your liking, but the timing of the run/walk combinatios is PERFECT for building your tammina and makign you feel challenged and accomplished each day.

I also wrote a little blog for my running group to motivate people or at least to share a little bit about what i feel like gettign started....how those first five minutes are really the tough ones!

Is it possible for you to change into your running clothes before you leave work? That way, when you get home, you can just hit the road without thinking about it or getting distracted. Even better would be to find a place to run on your way home from work so by the time you get home, you are already done with your run.